It came just three days after the government announced coronavirus rules that put London into a tier three lockdown. Very suddenly, only five days before Christmas, Boris Johnson created a new, stronger tier - putting London and other parts of the south essentially back in full lockdown - with Christmas plans drastically changed from five days of three-household mixing to one day of two-household mixing for those outside of tier four restrictions.
It was a blow to everyone’s Christmas plans, but a necessary one, the Prime Minister warned, because of the new variant of coronavirus that is thought to spread 70% faster. Information about the new variant was reported last week, the same day London was initially put into tier three lockdown, with scientists warning not to be ‘hysterical’.
‘Let's not be hysterical. It doesn't mean it's more transmissible or more infectious or dangerous,’ Professor Alan McNally, an expert at the University of Birmingham, told the BBC at the time. ‘It is something to keep an eye on. Huge efforts are ongoing at characterising the variant and understanding its emergence. It is important to keep a calm and rational perspective on the strain as this is normal virus evolution and we expect new variants to come and go and emerge over time.’
While the lockdown changes were necessary, the last-minute nature of them however, most say, wasn’t. Even with a new variant, there was tons of scepticism about the safety of the five-days of Christmas rules. Way back in mid-November, Professor Andrew Hayward - a member of the government's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) - told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that social mixing at Christmas would pose ‘substantial risks’.
‘My personal view is we're putting far too much emphasis on having a near-normal Christmas,’ he said. ‘We know respiratory infections peak in January so throwing fuel on the fire over Christmas can only contribute to this.’
But just last week, after Labour leader Kier Starmer urged Boris Johnson to reconsider the five-day rule, the Prime Minister mocked him for wanting to ‘cancel Christmas’ – only to do it himself days later. To say that the handling of this is a shambles would be to put it lightly.
Because, this isn’t just a case of disappointed children or lonely grandparents, cancelling Christmas this last minute will have real financial and mental health implications on the most vulnerable in our society.
After such a tough financial year, to wait until now to cancel Christmas just because our Prime Minister is scared of being ‘Scrooge’ is completely thoughtless.
Millions of people across the country had made plans, spent money and stocked up their fridges to now have so much wasted. What about the single mother on a budget planning to share Christmas dinner responsibilities with her family, now left with no other food in the fridge for her kids Christmas day and no food deliveries available?
What about the person living alone for the last 11 months whose only solace was spending Christmas with family, now stuck spending the holiday alone with nothing prepared and again, no food deliveries? Even for those that are fully stocked and hosting, what if they’re also on a budget but spent all they had on a big family celebration after a horrendous year only for all of that to go to waste now they’re spending it alone?
Ultimately, we’ve all made our own financial decisions in preparation for Christmas, whether it was booking trains home or hosting guests, and all of this inevitable waste could’ve been avoided if plans hadn’t of changed so last minute. After such a tough financial year, with millions left unemployed because of the pandemic, to wait until now to cancel Christmas just because we have a Prime Minister whose terrified of being called ‘Scrooge’ is completely thoughtless.
And it’s women who will pay the price most, not just in the mental drain of planning Christmas which so often burdens mothers, but since Covid-19 has already adversely impacted women economically more so than men, they will literally pay more for this financial f*ck up.
According to a report by Care International, 55% of the women they spoke to this year reported loss of income, compared with only 34% of men. Around 41% of women also reported lack of food impacting them, compared to 30% of men. And most tragically, 27% of women reported poor mental health was a key impact of Covid-19, compared with only 10% of men.
Now, with re-planning Christmas under entirely new circumstances, with panic buying already underway and little time to pull off the Christmas so many deserve this year, the stresses that causes such rises in poor mental health is only likely to get worse. And what's worse? This all could've been avoided.
Had the government followed the leadership of Jacinda Ardern and alike, we could be covid-free like New Zealand and Australia now. Had we locked down earlier, used that time to perfect test and trace systems, closed borders and prioritised the public health over the economy - perhaps we would be in an entirely difficult situation right now.
Ultimately, whether Christmas needed to be cancelled or not, the mismanagement of all of this and the cruel impacts it will have on the most vulnerable is exactly what cannot be forgiven.
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